A new year, a new you! Redefining yourself in 2014

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.”~Hal Borland

The year 2013 was a trying year for a lot of us. For some it seemed as though the year flew by, for others it seemed like it dragged on. Some of us lost loved ones; others brought new life into the world. People got married, people got divorced. New blended families were created.

We started new jobs, went into business for ourselves, and sacrificed a lot of things to achieve our goals.

We are a year older, hopefully a year wiser, and made too many mistakes to count, but I pray we learned from those mistakes.

In the New Year, call it what you may, be it resolutions, affirmations, or short term goals, just do it. Write out your plan and work it fervently. Do you want to go back to school, buy a house, get married, have children, and be a better friend, wife, or mother? Well the first step is speaking it into existence. Then move out on it, and see how God will bless you.

When we sit back and reflect over our lives, and take a close look in the mirror, we are forced to reexamine some of the choices we have made, be they good or bad. We are the sum total of our choices. We all are given the same 24 hours in the day, so what we choose to do with our time is up to us.

Will you let society define you, friends define you, let family tell you which direction your life should be moving? You aren’t a sheep. If you don’t like the direction your life is heading, change it. There is no period at the end of your story, it’s still being written, but by whom?

Who defines you Black woman?

You are more than statistics put before the world. You are not merely “baby mommas,” welfare recipients, lip smacking and eye rolling, scantily clad, sexual objects. You are the second self of God, and what does a goddess look like? In order to redefine ourselves we have to be shown a prototype of a godly woman. You are damn good mothers, a lot of us are the head of households and companies. You are smart, intelligent, and your beauty is unmatched by any other woman the world over. But do you know it? No women in the annals of history have suffered like the Black woman, that’s why God chose you to be the leaders of the New World!

In an article titled, “The Challenge to Change Part II: Who is your leader, God or Satan?” the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan delivered powerful words. “Mary (Mother of Jesus) was an extraordinarily righteous woman. She was so pure that the Holy Qur’an says of Mary, that she is the best of women. She was so good a woman until the angels argued among themselves as to who would have charge over Mary. She was such a special woman because she had to bring into the world a very special man to bring us the challenge to change.” Here we are given a foundation to build upon and a woman to emulate, her name is Mary.

“When I reflect on Black women and images, the first thing that enters my mind is the portrayal of them through media images as self-hating, angry, miserable, and vindictive. All of those characterizations are fictitious and derive from Western America’s foundation of White supremacy, as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has so clearly demonstrated and proven,” said Dr. Ava Muhammad, attorney and Nation of Islam student minister in an interview with Final Call national correspondent Charlene Muhammad.

What will your legacy be? What will you leave behind that defines you? What have you contributed to the world and community in the past year? Have you built relationships, repaired them, or broken them? If we read your tweets, Facebook posts, or see your Instagram photos, and summed them all up, what would they say about you—and does all of that define you?

What will you do differently in 2014? Will you pray more, go to worship services more? Will you invite people to hear a word that will save their lives? Will you give your last dime to a cause greater than yourself? Have you even thought about what you will do in the New Year? I’m taking the advice of Anaïs Nin when she said, “I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.” So I will start small, take each thing as it comes, and realize I am not alone in the world, I have people who love me and care about me, and want me to succeed, and a God who has chosen me in particular to usher in a new woman.

I have about 20 new books I have purchased in the past year and only briefly scratched the surface of each one. I plan to get more organized, study more, get in better shape, travel more, and improve personal relationships. What else would a goddess do?

May God inspire us. May God stimulate and motivate us. May God allow us to be the recipient of His spirit through our receiving of His word. And may we all be willing to change for the better, redefine ourselves, and I look forward to seeing the new you in the New Year!

(This article was written by Laila Muhammad videographer, writer and Final Call production assistant.)